New travel rules coming into force tomorrow could pose problems for some passengers who want to travel without a Covid-19 booster.
From Tuesday 1st February, a nine-month validity period comes into force for Covid certs. This will be an issue for anyone who got their second dose before last May, and hasn’t opted for a booster vaccine.
People without a booster will still be able to travel if they have proof of recovery from Covid-19 or have a negative PCR test result before they travel.
Under this new rule, set in place by the European Union Commission those planning to travel are advised to obtain updated EU certifications or recovery certifications and to continue to research all government guidelines before travelling.
Pat Dawson, CEO of the The Irish Travel Agents Association stated, “It has been well flagged by the European Union that the original EU Digital Covid certs have a nine month validity. With the level of booster vaccinations in this country, everyone who has had a booster can get their updated EU digital cert. Anybody who has had COVID-19 and is not eligible for the booster can go to www.gov.ie to obtain a recovery certification, so this should not cause any issues whatsoever.”
Paul Hackett President of the ITAA confirmed, “This EU wide decision and the EU commission has been very good with handling the digital COVID-19 certifications and ensuring consistency across all member states. This means that when traveling anywhere in the EU, the rules are pretty much the same. However, the ITAA do advise that you receive up to date guidelines from your travel agent or check out dfa.ie for updated traveling information before travelling.”